The present invention relates to supervising a network, that is a network of electronic components comprising, for example, workstations, personal computers, servers, hubs, routers, bridges, switches, (hereinafter referred to as components of the network), and links between these components which may be in the form of physical cable or wireless links. The network may be a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN) or other types and may operate in accordance with any desired protocol.
After such a network has been installed, it is desirable for the person appointed network manager to be able to understand the technical operation of the network. In known network management systems, the manner in which the relevant data is retrieved from the managed devices, compiled and displayed has been problematic in several respects. Firstly, the data received from each of the managed devices is simply compiled and displayed as a list of data for the user to interpret. Secondly, the data does not provide information about unmanaged devices. Thirdly, information about a given network device, such as the type of device, location of the device on the network and operating speed of the device, may be contained in different sections of the compiled data. Consequently, conventional systems are cumbersome and difficult to use.
In co-pending UK patent applications numbers 9910844.1, 9910845.8, 9910838.3, 9910837.5, 9910839.1, 9910840.9 filed in the name of the assignee of the present applications and which are incorporated herein, we describe various arrangements for providing automatic interrogation of the network to thereby produce a network map which may be displayed on a visual display unit showing the components and links between the components. At its simplest, and where the component is a xe2x80x9cmanagedxe2x80x9d component, this is usually provided by interrogation using a known protocol, such as the SNMP protocol, of the so-called xe2x80x98agentxe2x80x99 of each component which stores the components unique MAC address, the type of component and the MAC addresses the components which are connected to the ports directly or indirectly.
It is desirable in this supervising capacity to be able to graphically distinguish a path between two points on a network. This is particularly useful in diagnosing problems, by tracing a path between two components. Whilst path tracing may be a relatively simple matter where there are relatively few components, in a complex network, the paths between two components will not be immediately obvious and indeed it is desirable to be able to ascertain whether there is more than one such path.
The present invention provides a network supervising apparatus comprising:
a memory, in use, storing information relating to the components of the network and the links between those components;
a visual display apparatus connectable with said memory and including signal processor apparatus to convert the information in said memory into a visual display on said visual display apparatus representing the components of the network and the links between these components;
a manually operable selector to select two components displayed on said visual display apparatus;
said processor apparatus processing the signals to said visual display apparatus to visually distinguish a set of components and/or links forming a path between the selected components and the other components and links.
The present invention also provides a method of supervising a network comprising:
converting information relating to the components of the network and the links between those components into a visual display on a visual display apparatus representing the physical relationship between the components of the network and the links between these components;
manually selecting two components displayed on said visual display apparatus;
processing the information to visually distinguish a set of components and/or links forming a path between the selected components and the other components and links.
The present invention also provides a computer program on a computer readable medium for use in supervising a network, said program comprising:
program means for accessing information relating to the components of the network and the links between those components;
program means for converting said information into a form to provide on a visual display apparatus, a visual display, representing the physical relationship between the components of the network and the links between these components;
program means actuated by a manually operable selector which selects two components displayed on said visual display apparatus, said program means causing said visual display apparatus to visually distinguish a set of components and/or links forming a path between the selected components and the other components and links.
The present invention also provides a computer program embodied in a carrier wave for use in supervising a network, said program comprising:
program means for accessing information relating to the components of the network and the links between those components;
program means for converting said information into a form to provide on a visual display apparatus, a visual display, representing the physical relationship between the components of the network and the links between these components;
program means actuated by a manually operable selector which selects two components displayed on said visual display apparatus, said program means causing said visual display apparatus to visually distinguish a set of components and/or links forming a path between the selected components and the other components and links.